Building brick



May 5, 1941- w. H. WHITTEN l Y2,241,079

BUILDING BRICK Filed May ll, 1939 Mira y/.V

Patented May 6, 1941 BUILDING BRICK William Henry Whitten, Bexley Heath, England i Application May 11, 1939, Serial No. 272,939

In Great Britain September 29, 1938 (Cl. T2-41) 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to building bricks, slabs, blocks or the like, and it has for its object to provide a brick or like element which is relatively cheap to manufacture and can be used for the buil-ding of walls or other parts of buildings in a safe and practical manner while minimising the need for skilled labour.

In accordance with the present invention a building brick or like element includes a centering projection on one face and a recess in another face to co-operate with the centering projection of an adjacent brick, a recessed portion around the centering projection which enables the joint to be pointed and a cavity or cavities or aperture or apertures through the brick which can be filled with mortar to bind the assembly of such bricks together.

Preferably the centering projection comprises a plurality of projecting elements or studs which enable a wall to be built with different bonds and with the joints staggered in successive courses.

In order to enable the invention to be more fully understood same will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 represents a complete brick in section on line la-la of Fig. 2, and also part of the next lower brick, also in section, the two bricks being shown somewhat separated.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the brick shown in i Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an under plan View of the bricks.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the use of the bricks in building a wall with broken joints in successive vertical courses.

The bricks according to the invention may be formed of any suitable material such as burnt clay, lime-sand composition, concrete or breeze, for use in the building trade, while furthermore they may be formed of wood as toy building size as to fit the centering projections of the next lower brick or bricks, and this comparatively snugly. The relative positions of two bricks in adjacent courses is indicated by the dotted line position of the upper brick in Fig. 1. The contacting faces of the projections3 and recess 4 are preferably inclined somewhat as shown to facilitate assembly and to enable the bricks to be assembled a tight t one to the other.

Around the edge of the brick and adjacent projections 3 is a recess 5, the side wall of which is preferably inclined as indicated. The lower face B of said recess is also preferably inclined downwards towards the centre of the brick. The recess 5 is preferably filled with mortar during the building of a wall or subsequently, thus giving a pointed appearance to the wall and assisting in tieing or uniting the bricks to form a rigid whole.

The projections 3 are so spaced in relation to the face of the brick that when several courses are laid in interlocking relation a vertical space isv left between adjacent bricks which is preferably filled with mortar as each brick is laid, the gap being later pointed in the usual manner if desired. Alternatively, the bricks may iit closely one to the other and notches 1 may be provided in some or all vertical edges to allow for pointing.

The brick is provided furthermore with one or more vertical apertures which enables a wall to be bound together by filling or grouting these apertures so that a continuous core is formed from brick to brick, such filling alsospreading through the space between the bricks and in the frogs 2. Three such apertures are shown on the drawing at 8 which are so positioned .that when such bricks are built into a wall with broken joints or with various bonds or as headers, the apertures come into alignment and enable the bricks to be satisfactorily bonded by filling with mortar or grouting mixture. Said apertures are preferably somewhat tapered, being made by a tapered core to facilitate withdrawal in production.

Fig. 4 represents part of a wall incorporating the bricks of the present invention laid with broken joint, the brick la of the upper course straddling two bricks Ib of the lower course. The advantage of providing separate spaced projections 3 will now be apparent, for the brick la can seat on the face of bricks Ib while the projections of the latter bricks still remain operative for centering brick la while the recess 5 for the horizontal pointing still remains. The invention is ynot of course restricted to a pointed wall, although the bricks of the present invention have the advantage of giving a wall which is similar in appearance to normal brickwork. Obviously, however, the wall could be rendered with mortar or plaster, the recesses 5 and the vertical spaces forming an effective key for the rendering.

As stated above the projections 3 may be slightly bevelled and the necessary clearances are provided for convenience in building the bricks into a wall, which can be performed with the aid of a light mallet without the use of mortar or cement, thus minimising the necessity of employing skilled labour. The rst course of bricks is laid on a level with approximately correct spacing and succeeding courses are automatically laid level and plumb without difficulty. When laying corner bricks, half bricks or cross bonding bricks, one of the lips of anges surrounding the recess 4 in the underside of a brick fits between the spaced projections 3 on a lower brick. If desired,

' however, the bricks may be assembled with Inor-` tar in the usual way, the mortar however being positioned mainly in the frog to prevent it coming between recess 4 and projections 3, or alternatively the wall may be built without mortar. Preferably the wall is built with mortar between the vertical joints and a thin mortar or grout filling is poured into the apertures 8 from course to course or after assembling several courses or after completing the wall. Further, steel rods or equivalent reinforcement could be passed through the aligned apertures-8, giving awall structure of great strength.

It is considered useful to specify thevdimensions of a brick in accordance with the invention. In the case of a standard brick eight and liveeighths inches long by four and one-eighthinches wide, the recess 4 may be eight inches long and three and a halfincheswide,andeightprojections a with the desired vertical gap between adjacent bricks. -The projections at the corners of the raised portion may be L shape or as shown, and the two intermediate projections on each side may be of rectangular shape, one and a quarter inches longr and three quarters of an inch wide, y

spaced longitudinally one inchapart from each other and from the end projections. The height of the projections 3 may be a quarter of an inch, while the recess 5 may be three-eighths of an inch high by a quarter of an inch deep, leaving a space of this size for the pointing. The bricks may, however, be made in different sizes, for example to provide lintels or panels, and, of course, half bricks may also be used if desired.

The bricks according to the invention may be made in any suitable manner in accordance with the material utilised, for example by pressing or by the wire-cut process.

I claim:

A building brick or the like comprising a body portion having an under face providing a oomplete rim projecting downwardly from the same and having an ofsjet shoulder set back from the lower face of the rim and having a tapering frog portion sloping inwardly upward from the said offset portion, the said body portion having an upper face providing a plurality of projections at evenly spaced points, said projections of one brick fitting at side edges within the said rim of a superposed brick and of greater width than thesaid offset portion so that in building with the bricks each will provide upper surface portions of said projections underlying said frog portion of a superposed brick in addition to portions of said upper faces oi the projections engaging said offset portions of a superposed brick, whereby surface engagement between the said projections and off'- set portion of contiguous bricks will be less than the full surface area of the tops of the projections for obtaining temporary stable seating of a superposed brick and enable grouting cement or-the like to be inserted thereafter between the frog 0f the superposed brick and the portions of the said projections underlying said frogs for both increasing the support for the superposed brick from-the projections of the underbrick after assembly and for securing increased bonding between the said bricks, said rim cooperating with the upper surface of the lower brick circumferentially beyond' the said projections for confining 5 theV grouting cement between the bricks, said bricks having apertures therethrough for introduction of said groutingcement after assembly of the superposed brick in place.

W'ILLIAIVI HENRY VVHITTEN. 

